Ten Russian secret agents living in 'deep cover' arrested in US

Published: Tuesday, June 29, 2010, 13:03 [IST]

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Washington, June 29 (ANI): The FBI has arrested ten secret agents of the Russian government living in "deep-cover" in the United States and engaged in Cold War-style espionage, in a coordinated operation.

According to The Telegraph, the FBI has accused the SVR, the successor organisation to the Soviet Union's KGB, of running a network of "illegals", described in court documents as Russians who received training in languages, codes and ciphers, invisible writing and counter-surveillance, before living in the United States under false identities.

Each of the 10 was charged with conspiracy to act as an agent of a foreign government, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison on conviction.

The arrests came after President Barack Obama met his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev in Washington, praising him as a "solid and reliable partner" and taking him out to a burger restaurant.

The paper also said that a defendant known as 'Anna Chapman"' communicated with a Russian official in Manhattan in January as she sat in a coffee shop and he pulled up outside in a van. The FBI alleged that they used a wireless network via paired computers.

"A message from alleged conspirators in Boston gave details about a new head of the CIA and the 2008 presidential election gained from a former legislative counsel for US Congress," the report said. (ANI)